Soothing Sensations - Snily
by Eurythmatix
Summary: Baby Harry is sick. And Lily can only call on one person to help him get better, or at least to diagnose the problem. But what happens when Snape and Lily collide? Sensations ripple through them, but can they face reality or give in to their feelings?


**SOOTHING SENSATIONS**

**(ONE SHOT)**

**oOoOoOoOoOo**

He had said many times that he'd be there for me. He had even decidedly offered to choose me over other girls, women that would tease him, tormenting him to become their own. And at times I would have loved to sit back and allow them to have him surrender, but what was to become of me? Why was I the one to end up marrying someone whom I wholly detested ever since I did set eyes on him?

'Severus', I breathed in delight as he stepped over the threshold and into my living room, 'how lovely to see you.'

He had been the only one that I could have called on such a late night, at such a most desperate time.

'Where is he?' he asked tightening the grip on his brown leather hang down bag that obviously held an array of potions and instruments. 'Where is Harry?'

I beckoned up the stairs, my green eyes never leaving him. 'He's upstairs. I didn't remove him from his crib in fear of his condition being altered in some other way.'

'That was a wise move', he said stepping towards me, and then Severus was around me and he was striding towards the staircase.

My heart fell for he hadn't taken time to even wrap those arms around me, engulfing me in a warm hug that I used to treasure when we were innocently young. And suddenly I remembered that when it came to someone's health, and someone's heart, he was the one to deal with things strictly, never allowing his demeanor to falter. But I knew better than that. Snape wasn't happy to see me for I did grace his mind with regrets, worry and anger. After all, I had chosen James Potter over him and that was what would be etched in his mind forever more.

'What are his symptoms?'

I quickly followed behind him as he climbed the staircase, skipping a step at a time. Sweat had begun to drain down my back as I observed him from behind: his broad back, narrow waist, tempting to touch black hair. And I remembered all at once when we had shared our first kiss under our favorite tree in the Forbidden Forest. It had been in our fifth year, just before he had called me a 'Mudblood'. That kiss had just happened, as I can recall. We were walking among the trees as the sun did set, when I slipped, he grabbed out to prevent me from falling and as I turned around to face him, we tumbled unto the grass. I could still remember how he felt against me, his body not so hard but it felt just right.

'Lily?' he asked as we reached the top of the stairs, 'Harry's symptoms.'

'Oh', I said trying to gather composure, 'he has a very continuous fever that grows worse into the nights. He can't sleep for more than half an hour. And he wouldn't breastfeed. I was wondering if he's…' and I trailed off.

'He may be teething but I must see him first to determine that. However, he may have been food poisoned, may have an allergic reaction –'

'I don't believe it was food poisoning', I said as we went through the hall and towards the nursery. 'He hasn't been vomiting and there's no bowel movement.'

Severus stopped just near Harry's cradle and I watched him gaze at a child that could have been his had I not been so utterly stupid to marry the man that accidentally made me pregnant with his child. I could see his body stiffen as he peered down at my son and as if something changed in him, Snape reached out with his arms and lifted Harry up.

I watched him turn him this way and that as he checked for rashes of any sort, then he gently rested his palm on Harry's back. To the changing table he went, then after he had rested Harry down on his back, he pried open his tiny mouth with a finger.

'Say 'ahh' for me', he said and smiled. 'There now', and he peered into the baby's mouth, 'he _is _teething, Lily. What he needs is a soothing balm to ease the pain. Poor thing has become so agitated, no wonder he looks so cross.'

'Is that all?' I asked because I had feared the worst. 'I mean, what about his fever?'

'Well fever comes when babies are teething and such. Oh there you stand making me feel as if I know more about motherhood than you.'

I smiled almost too much and went to stand near him, almost too close. 'Maybe you do.'

'You are just nervous and you shouldn't be. Have you ever read the book I bought you on 'Motherhood'?'

I peered over at him guiltily. 'I only got around to reading the first three chapters about Birthing and Breastfeeding. Harry has had me busy', I pleaded as I saw that look of disbelief wash over his handsome face. 'He's always bubbling with energy that I can't handle at times. Oh he makes me so tired.'

Severus was pawing around in his bag now. 'I believe he reminds us of someone that is standing in this very room. At times that said individual would become so energetic; I'd have to resort to surrendering to your little antics and bursts of supercharged energy levels, especially your breathtaking hugs.'

I only laughed for the memories were delightful yet painful.

'Here', he said holding out a small vile of pink liquid to me. 'It is a liquid, I made it myself.' He took off the cover, 'dip your finger in like this', he said doing so, 'and then you just gently rub it on his gum. Twice daily: when he wakes in the morning and before he goes to sleep in the night.'

Severus gently opened Harry's mouth and I watched him rub his finger on the baby's gum. Harry just looked miserable for his eyes were red and swollen from crying. His small hands were waving in the air and if I was hearing correctly, Harry was still attempting to gurgle even with my best friend's finger in his mouth.

'He is so adorable, Lily', Severus said and I couldn't help but feel happy at his words, knowing that my green eyes had moistened almost too much. 'His eyes are absolutely cute: such a rare gene that can be transferred.'

'I know, I was sure he'd have James' eyes but…'

At the mention of James, I could tell that Snape had become tense. I knew him too well for he had been my best friend for years. And having regretted it, I calmly rested my hand on his neck, anticipating my fingers caressing his soft skin. As mundane as it was, he leant in to my touch, and I saw his eyes flutter close as he savored the touch of my fingers on his bare skin once more. It had been years, and the last time we managed to get farther than a kiss, we had only been but seventeen. It had happened on the night that we had finally reconciled.

He had been sitting at my mother's kitchen table at the place I had called home for over eighteen years. I can clearly remember him as I did walk in on that cold winter night: his head bent with his black hair falling like a curtain around his shadowed face. And he had his hands clasped before him on the table, those long slender fingers that would hold mine ever so now and again.

_'I'm not talking to you', I said striding towards the table and dropping my bag onto it forcefully. 'You can leave right now because I don't want to hear your damn voice –'_

_'Lily', Snape said softly, his dark eyes fixed on mine and it was then that I noticed how swollen they were, his cheeks wet as well for he had been crying. 'Lily, please forgive me. It is all I ask of you.'_

_'I don't care about what you want right now. Severus, please leave', and I turned towards the stairs, taking them two at a time as I was destined to reach my room, close the door and block him out of my memories._

_It was just mere seconds before I felt him behind me; his presence loomed behind me like a shadow that had a strong effect on me. I reached for the doorknob and his hand reached for my shoulder._

_'Don't touch me', I demanded and as I turned to face him, my eyes remained on the floor. 'I said to lea-'_

_'I can't leave. I can't', and it was then that he reached out with his right thumb to caress my jaw line and then I felt his finger trail along my neck. 'You're too special to me. I never meant to call you what I did. I was so angry, it wasn't meant for you. Those words weren't spoken from my heart and you knew it, Lily, yet you chose to act on my one mistake to forever hold a grudge against me.'_

_And he leant in, our lips inches apart. I felt my body give in to him right there and then as we breathed into each other's mouths, his lips partially open and mine the same as well. We captured each other in a kiss as passionately as possible and we continued into my bedroom._

_'Severus, we mustn't', I whispered into his ear._

'Lily we mustn't.' I snapped back into reality to find my lips inches apart from his, my body desiring as much as it could for me to have his lips on mine once more.

Severus moved aside, and then he took up Harry and returned him to his cradle, the baby already drooping into a calm sleep. Tears came to my eyes as I watched him, wondering if he had gotten over me after all this time. He couldn't have, I thought to myself as he went back to the changing table to collect his bag. He wouldn't have responded to my touch that way if he was through with me.

'I'm sorry', I said softly as he took up his bag then he turned to me. 'I can't help it sometimes.'

'Me neither', he admitted calmly, 'but I cannot allow my feelings to make the worst of me.'

'How can they make the worst of you when what they will capture is your love for me?'

'Lily, you're married', he stated. 'You belong to one man and one man alone. And that man, as much as I wished for it to have been otherwise, is not me.'

'I wanted it to be you', I said tearing up inside. 'I really wanted that.'

'A want is merely a desire; therefore you never needed me which would have meant that you found loving me to be a necessity.'

I walked towards him, my arms reaching out to hold him. 'Sev, don't say that. You know that I love-'

'And here is where I must take my leave', he announced and diverted his body from my open arms. In doing so, it was only my fingers that managed to whisper against his coat as he went like a rush of wind in the night.

And when he had gone out the door and had disapparated into the night without informing me of his destination, I sank down onto the couch before the fire, and I cried. One simple mistake had managed to ruin my entire life and I was left with the loss of a most loving best friend only to gain a man who never could love me as much as Severus Snape could.

**Writer's Note: Do tell me how you fancied this story. I am dying to hear of what you think of it.**


End file.
